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CoolThink@JC - Computational Thinking Education for All

Inspiring digital creativity - computational thinking as basic education in every school

CoolThink@JC is a Computational Thinking education programme donated and created by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, co-created by MIT, EdUHK and CityU. Its mission is to inspire digital creativity, nurture students' proactive use of technologies for social good from a young age, mainstream CT education in schools and serve as a basic education for everyone.

HundrED 2024
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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

HundrED Global Collection 2024

HundrED Global Collection 2023

Web presence

2016

Established

110K

Children

8

Countries
Target group
Students lower
Updated
July 2023
Inspire digital creativity, nurture proactive use of technology for social good from a young age, offer equitable access to high quality learning materials, and mainstream Computational Thinking education in formal school curriculum, as basic education for every student.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

We saw the critical need for modern curriculum, a basic education for every student to master 21st century skills and narrow the new form of digital divide. Our mission is to inspire digital creativity, nurture students' proactive use of technologies for social good from a young age and advocating mainstream Computational Thinking education in formal curriculum for every student.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

CoolThink@JC is an impactful large scale Computational Thinking education program in Hong Kong, a US$67 million funding project donated and created by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust since 2016. We convene the government, renowned educators, local and global institutions to systematically transform our technology education ecosystem with modern curriculum innovation and teacher capacity building. We push policy refresh to mandate CT education in school system, and our project has reached over 100% of publicly funded primary schools (>470 schools) in Hong Kong and our curriculum has reached to USA, New Zealand and Dubai.
CoolThink@JC is innovative for its vision and thought leadership in taking “Computational Thinking” on the center stage as the brand and priority to drive local and international adoption with a successful evidenced-proven implementation model for the world. We founded the first International Conference on Computational Thinking Education since 2017.

How has it been spreading?

We started a 4-year pilot in 32 schools to prove our model works. SRI conducted a rigorous 3-year independent evaluation for the project and concluded that CoolThink students significantly outperformed their peers in control schools. We continue our scaling out effort to reach critical mass of adoption. As of June 2023, we has reached all aided primary schools in HK, 204 of them are teaching 14+ hours of CT in formal computing lesson in their schools. We've supported >80,000 students, >1,200 teachers and >20,000 parents. Our curriculum received ISTE Seal of Alignment standard, received certification by Education Alliance Finland, won two awards in the QS Reimagine Education Awards 2021. The Education Bureau of the HKSAR adopted and adapted our materials to all primary schools in May 2023.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

Know more about our impact and design: https://www.coolthink.hk/en

Check out our pedagogy and curriculum: https://www.coolthink.hk/en/our-curriculum/

Download and access our learning materials: https://coolthink.hk/en/resource-kits/

Impact & scalability

HundrED Academy Reviews

Already working in 7 countries, the initiative shows great potential for success, especially since it focuses more on broader computational skills, rather than only focusing on coding. The curriculum has also received several awards.

Computational thinking is among the skills to be taught to pupils in the 21st century. The project has been implemented in several countries and research has proved the benefits for logical thinking and problem-solving.

- Academy member
Academy review results
Impact
Scalability
Exceptional
High
Moderate
Limited
Insufficient
Exceptional
High
Moderate
Limited
Insufficient
Read more about our selection process

Media

CoolThink@JC Commendation Scheme 2024: Debut of Inaugural Teaching Assistant Awards Empowering Growth Through Digital Inclusion https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/coolthink-jc-commendation-scheme-2024-133000621.html
Hong Kong primary students win top prize for smart school bag at CoolThink@JC Competition https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3228351/hong-kong-primary-students-win-top-prize-smart-school-bag-coolthinkjc-competition
CoolThink@JC featured in the first MIT AI and Education Summit 2024. Critical to early AI education has been the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, a longtime collaborator that helped MIT deploy computational action and project-based learning years before AI was even a widespread pedagogical challenge. Read more: https://news.mit.edu/2024/first-ai-education-summit-0827
CoolThink materials now being used by NGOs in Canada to support underprivileged students in their community. We offered train the trainers workshop to volunteers who are now become class instructors.
Adopting and adapting CoolThink@JC learning materials, Hong Kong schools will teach 10-14 hours of computational thinking and coding education in all upper primary classes (age 9-11) starting from 2023 school year!
CoolThink@JC success factors
Two Jockey Club innovation and technology teaching content to be adopted and adapted in EDB Curriculum Modules. https://www.asiaone.com/business/two-jockey-club-innovation-and-technology-teaching-content-be-adopted-and-adapted-edb
What Does a Comprehensive Computational Thinking Curriculum Look Like? https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-08-29-what-does-a-comprehensive-computational-thinking-curriculum-look-like
How artificial intelligence will redefine the future of work? https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/topics/inspiring-digital-talents-tomorrow/article/3182052/how-artificial
Hong Kong on its way to becoming a global leader in computational thinking education https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/tech-trends/topics/inspiring-digital-talents-tomorrow/article/3185255/hong-kong-its
This Program Is Empowering the Next Generation of Computational Thinkers
CoolThink curriculum book sets in professional packing
CoolThink and Miss Little Inventor in Hong Kong Book Fair 2022
Support parents and students during COVID-19 pandemic
Awards show pupils compute brilliantly
New book released: Computational Thinking Education in K–12
CoolThink@JC Wins International Recognition Including Silver and Bronze Awards at the "Oscars" of Education
How artificial intelligence will redefine the future of work
Building an entrepreneurial mindset in the young to harness the potential of the GBA
CoolThink@JC Case Study – Spurring Change in Hong Kong Classrooms
CoolThink@JC Pilot Independent Evaluation Report by SRI
Students showcase their digital creativity in the CoolThink@JC Competition 2021
Show more

Implementation steps

Get access to CoolThink curriculum

There are many reasons why you may wish to learn more and download CoolThink curriculum:


  • You can try out CoolThink curriculum, make use of the best of CoolThink curriculum to enhance and compliment your existing ICT curriculum;

  • You can use CoolThink curriculum as a showcase to influence your colleges to adopt Computational Thinking education inside the classroom;

  • You want to get trained and build confident in teaching CT inside a classroom;

  • You want to meet and exchange experiences with educators of similar passion and vision.

Follow the Registration Link (https://forms.gle/pWXsfZeoW6Fv2K516) to submit an application form. A 3-hour CoolThink induction workshop will be arranged for you to get a basic understanding of the curriculum framework, pedagogy and unit outline, and instructions to download the material files. The workshop will be organised regularly depending on the demand or typically twice a year.

Download curriculum from MIT App Inventor

Based on the Coolthink@JC curriculum, these 10 units comprise approximately 50 hours of content. Students learn to think computationally, while making mobile apps with MIT App Inventor. Developed by MIT App Inventor in collaboration with Education University of Hong Kong with support from the Hong Kong Jockey Club, this curriculum is targeted toward middle school grades and up.

Sign up here: https://forms.gle/U22SPD5mRZ5viWFi7

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